Why be so unprofessional, Freelancer?

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Anybody who wants to become a freelancer must understand that freelancing is a very serious job that requires as much dedication as regular office job. Also, it requires a lot of commitment and same amount of time and energy.

Sadly, image of freelancers have come out as a last and risky option. They are often considered to be unreliable in their work along-with being problematic in nature.

Let us try to see why freelancers don’t earn respect from clients and can such problems be prevented.

Why freelancers don’t earn respect from clients?

Some people consider freelancing to be easy task, just because it’s done from home. Apprising honestly, each one of us having some skills along-with a computer and internet access wants to become a graphic designer, a web developer or a seo expert. Actually it’s good, but it works out only when the person has the dedication and responsible attitude towards it.

Freelancers don’t deliver upon project commitments because they take their work from granted. They have so many other issues ranging from personal priorities to miscellaneous problems that their entire plan is disturbed. This results in many losses. Firstly, the client’s business suffers. Secondly, freelancer’s reputation gets affected. This ultimately causes roughening of relations too.

So what are the causes of above? Let’s discuss them out here.

Problem 1: The moody fellow

The main reason behind above issue is that freelancers allow their mood to affect their work. If they are happy, then the work gets done. If not, the client is left at hands of fate. Some freelancers tend to delay the work as they have entire day to themselves. This results in client losing temper. And when finally the work starts, the quality suffers and the output produced is not good.

So, it is very essential to decide if you have the required dedication and right attitude needed to work as freelancer. You should never allow your personal matters to affect your work.

Problem 2: Taking more work than you can handle

It’s exciting to bid on many projects at a time and it is good when we many of them. It surely creates excitement in the beginning. However, once you sat down on work what you see is too much work, stringent deadlines and harsh clients. At this stage, you might give excuses and over-work to complete them all. However, how hard you might try, the project quality suffers, clients complain about bad work and you suffer losses.

To prevent this, make a proper plan of your daily activity. Allot dedicated time to each project and ensure its completion. Try to complete one project before moving on to second one. This will help in project delivery along-with good quality standard. Clients will also be happy and will provide you more work.

Problem 3: Ignoring Guidelines

This is one of the greatest mistakes. Freelancers either are careless about guidelines or are too busy to read them! They just don’t pay heed to it and set out working with no mindset. Hence, the end result is sometimes very different from what the client wanted. Herein, the client then demands revisions on project that results in unnecessary time spent on the project.

The only way to solve this is to be thorough and read the guidelines properly. It genuinely helps as it results in speedy delivery of project and prevents time spent. It most importantly maintains your integrity as a thorough professional.

Problem 4: Sub-standard work

This is a very common and interesting problem mentioned by clients. It is that the work-sample they firstly receive from freelancer was of great quality; however, the quality of actual work was no where close to the samples. Reason being, that the sent samples were just for intention to persuade client to hire that freelancer. And problem comes, when the actual work falls short of client’s expectations. Client, in turn, gets furious and scraps the project.

The best solution for it would be that if a freelancer is further getting work done from a 3rd person, then it must be reviewed before submitting it to client. Also, if project requires special attention on any aspect then its work must be done himself by freelancer.

Problem 5: Delayed Responses

Freelancers are often lazy to check information from clients. Also, they sometimes don’t provide timely updates also. This not only bothers their existing clients, but also results in losing new opportunities too.

The very simple solution for it would be to just keep an eye on your mailbox and regularly check for any client update. Also make sure that once client’s mail comes reply it as soon as possible. Don’t keep them waiting for updates and they will be also prompt towards your payments.

About The Author

Dan Zimmerman is a writer at Shoutability. He has passion for all things marketing, programming and social media. He is a father and entrepreneur. Dan is a lifetime learner, and loves to spend time attending classes, webinars, and summits.